FISHES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS AND ADJACENT SEAS 113 



Cetorhinus Biainville, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, 1816, p. 121. (Type, Squalus 



gunneri BlainviUe== Squalus maximus Gunner, designated by Gill, Ann. 



Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York, 1861, p. 32.) 

 Ceteorhinus Agassiz, Nomencl. Zool., Index, p. 75, 1846. (Type, Squalits gun- 

 neri Biainville.) 

 Selache Cuvier, R^gne Animal, vol. 2, p. 129, 1817. (Type, Squalus maxirmis 



Gunner, designated by Jordan and Evermann, Genera of fishes, pt. 1, p. 97, 



1917.) 

 Selanche Jaeocki, Zoologii, vol. 4, p. 452, 1822. (Type, Squalus maximus 



Gunner.) 

 Selachus Minding, Lehrb. Naturg. Fiscbe, p. 52, 1832. (Type, Squalus maximus 



Gunner.) 

 Polyprosopus Covcu, British Fishes, vol. 1, p. 67, 1867. (Type, Squalus rash- 



leighanus Couch, designated by Jordan, Genera of Fishes, vol. 3, p. 313, 



1919.) 

 Hannovera Beneden, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Beige, ser. 2, vol. 31, p. 504, 1871. 



(Type, Hannovera aurata Beneden, mouotypic. ) 



Body partly fusiform, slenderer behind dorsal fin. Snout conic, 

 moderate. Eye above forward end of mouth, small. Mouth large, 

 curved forward. Teeth subconic, generally curved and directed in- 

 ward toward throat. Gill openings with strainers, apparently modi- 

 fied teeth or scales and suggestive of whalebone. Caudal large, ver- 

 tebral, axis raised, subcaudal lobe much produced, Ventrals rather 

 small. Claspers of male with bony denticles. 



These large sharks feed on minute forms of life, which are strained 

 from the sea water by means of their peculiar gill rakers. Their great 

 size, rivaling that of wiiales, doubtless added to their confusion ^\\i\\ 

 these animals has given rise to fables that they devoured dolphins, 

 humpbacks, rorquals, etc. "The Basking Shark is a peaceable and 

 sluggish creature, harmless to man or other animals of any magni- 

 tude, and asserting its presence only by roving in quest of food at the 

 surface, sometimes with snout above the water. When it accelerates 

 its pace, cleaving the water with the projecting dorsal and caudal 

 fins, and when it swims in a company of several, one behind another, 

 it presents an appearance that may well have dictated an occasional 

 contribution to the history of the great sea serpent. Or the same 

 phenomenon may be suggested to the imagination by a sight of this 

 fish as it lies during calm weather in repose at the surface, often with 

 the belly upwards, and as the waves lap its rotund body . . . Yet ex- 

 tremes meet, even in the temperament of the Basking Shark; and it 

 has sometimes been seen to leap several feet out of the water." 

 (Smitt.) 



HALSYDRUS MAXIMUS (Gunner) 



Squalus maximus Gunner, Selsk. Skrift. Trondhjem, vol. 3, p. 33, pi. 2, fig. 1, 

 1765 (type locality: Trondhjem). — Cuvib3!, Regue Animal, vol. 2, p. 129, 

 1817 (reference). 



